Tuesday, August 24, 2010

The strange things plants do

Have you ever noticed that for every negative in the garden there is a positive? Like the day when one of my trio of healthy statuesque Verbascum……collapsed in the heat (silly me leaving the garden on a 98 degree weekend!).

And then I discovered a Ginger that I had given up for dead (MONTHS ago) was actually alive and well. Only a little tardy to the garden party.

Or when a Kniphofia overnight turns brown and implodes…

Well so be it. Because I’ve discovered that the Colocasia that I thought were goners (they had survived the previous 4 winters!) were actually just sleeping in. A full three months later than I should normally see them they’ve finally decided to poke their leaves out from under the bed coverings.

And while I could be complaining about the miniature size of my fingerling carrots (whose finger? A baby?)….

…instead I’ll enjoy the fact that my variegated Yucca, which had been reverting to solid green, seems to be reconnecting with its inner yellow striped self.

I know most of these things can be explained by environmental conditions (too much or too little water, temperatures not warm enough, etc…) but it still makes me wonder.

How are things in your garden? All good? Too much bad? Or just the right mix to remind you of the natural balance of things?

9 comments:

But my neglect or bad initial siting usually seems to be the reason for my garden failures. I really can't blame the plants, as they do the best they can with my less than stellar care. They do constantly teach me better methods and reward my attention to their needs!

Weather, weather, weather. That is my excuse and I am sticking with it. After days of rain on and off, preceded by no rain for the longest time, digging in the new bed today to plant a hibiscus in a 3 gallon pot, the soil was dry as a bone. The three inches of mulch was deceptively wet, but dry down below where the roots reside. I was a bit blue after that. No wonder the plants all look a bit droopy. All this time I thought they had plenty of moisture. And it isn't like I do not know better, just getting a little lazy at this time of year.

This is that time of year when gardening enthusiasm wanes as plants that inspired such high hopes only a couple of months ago are suddenly looking worn & tired from the heat (even with additional helpings of water). Of course, the same could be said for the gardener!

Sometimes garden failures are so inexplicable-I always hope for some sort of plausible explanation. Ill tell you what though , If you harvest a few thousand of those itty-bitty carrots just imagine the groundswell of delight at the farmers market ! They'd sell like hotcakes--'macro carrots', saute for about 5 seconds and serve.

Those colocasias will come back after a year of inactivity! The regular ones are bordeline invasive, but you can always pull them up if the need arises.I also had a kniphofia that imploded all of a sudden, probably due to the heat. At least summer has come your way!

MulchMaid, so what do you attribute the colocasia appearance too? The soil finally being warm enough?

gardenwalkgardentalk, you said it!

ricki, you're in this group right?

RBell, I've heard this said and I wish I felt it, that way I would be more in-tune with the seasons. Instead I just want more time.

ks, ha! I bet you're right...too bad I've only got about 50. Hardy worth the trip to the market.

RFG, I would be SO HAPPY if one of my colocasia turned borderline invasive. Here I'm just happy to see them and whatever big leaves they want to make. I think our winters keep them pretty much in check. And I am so happy that we've got a touch of summer. However the roller-coaster continues. Yesterday was 95, today is headed to 90 and then we are back down to 69/70.

Darla, well, at least there is some good. Is it you or the plants that are indifferent?

Haha...I can totally relate to all of those things...sometimes there is just not reason behind the plants that thrive and those that just kinda linger on until their sad demise. My biggest problem in my garden now is the light...too much shad has made lost of plant too tall and weak and they are flopping all over...ugh. BTW...which Verbascum is that...love the big, velvety silver leaves!